1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic office nameplates, and more particularly, to interactive office nameplates capable of being accessed both remotely and locally.
2. Description of Related Art
Current methods for identifying an individual""s office or cubicle utilize either a nameplate and/or a whiteboard that provides the individual""s name and may allow someone to write a message to notify others of the whereabouts of the cubicle or office occupant or an intended time of arrival. This is not sufficient to provide for up-to-date information by an individual that is no longer near his office and is unable to manually mark information onto the whiteboard. Thus, if the office occupant is not present, more up-to-date information is not available and cannot be provided.
Another method for providing more up-to-date arrival information or information describing reasons for a delay and an expected time of arrival involves placing a message on the cubicle or office occupant""s desk phone greeting or message line. This requires an individual to call the office occupant""s phone and listen to the greeting. This method of providing up-to-date status of an individual""s location or intended arrival time is cumbersome as well as non-intuitive to fellow employees. Many employees would not think of calling the office occupant""s phone message system to determine their current whereabouts. Furthermore, once the office or cubicle occupant returns, they are required to access the phone messaging system and go through all the steps required to change back to their standard greeting. Thus, some improved means for notifying fellow employees of an office or cubicle occupant""s location and potential arrival times would greatly benefit the overall office communication environment.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other problems with an interactive office nameplate for providing information to individuals approaching an office or cubicle on the current location and status of the cubicle or office occupant. The nameplate includes a one-way cellular receiver for receiving cellular wireless signals transmitted from an individual wishing to update information presented on a display associated with the nameplate. The display presents information describing an office or cubicle occupant""s present location and when they may return. Alternatively, or in addition to the wireless receiver, a wireline interface may connect a computer to the interactive office nameplate enabling an individual to download information from the computer onto the display of the nameplate. This information could be provided from a computer within the office or cubicle or from a remotely accessing computer via a phone line.
A messaging module within the nameplate is responsive to signals received by the cellular transceiver or the wireline interface. The messaging module actuates the display to display a text message relating to the individual associated with the nameplate. The messaging module may include voice recognition capabilities enabling actuation of the display of text messages responsive to spoken voice data received over the cellular receiver. The messaging module may also include a number of predetermined messages which are automatically displayed in response to signals from the wireless transceiver or the wireline interface.
A user interface on the front panel of the interactive office nameplate enables a user to clear messages from the text display, initiate predetermined messages or program data within the interactive office nameplate. Using the above described apparatus, more up-to-date and useful information is provided to individuals desiring to know the present whereabouts and status of the occupant of the office or cubicle.